Tuesday, September 5, 2017

The biannual CMO Report is back, with analytics on the mind; it's winner take all with AI; the battle for voice supremacy is upon us; testing autonomous vehicles with pizza; USA Today's surprising mobile website move; Amazon isn't really ruling retail; WhatsApp means business; Google and Apple are battling on AR too; media IPOs to watch; podcast discovery is in; discerning the rescue efforts you support; Uber's new CEO is on the job; go visit a library; and more in the CMO Survey edition of The Full Monty for the week of September 4, 2017. See where Brain+Trust is speaking in the final section below.

And one point from the video below that stands out to us at Brain+Trust Partners: while plenty of effort it placed on a digital strategy, there's less rigor involved on creating a digital organization. Our philosophy about digital business transformation: it takes changes in people, process, and technology — in that order.

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Autonomous

The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, and autonomous everything.

Russian president Vladimir Putin indicated that "artificial intelligence is the future" and it comes with "colossal opportunities." Further, he said, "Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.” Just as the USSR and the US were in a space race in the 1950s and 60s, so too are we in an AI race now. The Russian bots on Twitter make that very clear.

Americans ages 55 and older now spend almost half of their digital media time with mobile—quite an impressive stat. And even more surprisingly, 25-34 year-olds are increasing their share of time spent with desktops. (via the US Mobile App Report)

THIS WEEK IN RETAIL:

You might think Amazon is ruling retail, but analysts at Moody's say you should think again: while Amazon dominates online commerce, those sales account for just 10 percent of the industry as a whole; and its Whole Foods acquisition only makes up $20 billion of an $800 billion market.

FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP

Facebook-funded shows begin rolling out this week on Watch, as publishers including Business Insider, Tastemade, Refinery29, and Nat Geo debut original video content directly on the platform. More evidence of the long-held view that Facebook TV is coming.

An Instagram hack hit millions of accounts and exposed email addresses and phone numbers. A site, now offline, sold access to hacked users' contact info for $10 a search; Instagram now says non-verified users may have been impacted. You and Selena Gomez may have something in common.

AUGMENTED REALITY / VIRTUAL REALITY

Google launched a preview of ARCore, a platform for Android developers to make AR apps, following iOS' ARKit. The platform will initially target Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S8 phones. Google is under enormous pressure to compete with Apple's own AR efforts. Is this enough?

Less than half (46 percent) said they subscribe to 2-6 podcasts per week;

Nineteen percent said they subscribe to 4-6 per week.

Six in ten (60 percent) said they find out about new podcasts from social media, followed by friends (57 percent), podcast apps (49 percent), other podcasts (45 percent) and articles (41 percent).

Nielsen now has podcast insights in a new report. The report examines the preferred brands and spending volumes of podcast listeners in categories such as bottled water, beer, and baby food. It also notes that non-white podcast listenership has increased over the past six years, from 30 percent in 2010 to 36 percent in 2016.

Program of the Week: This week's show is Startup from Gimlet Media, recommended by Patrick Hennessey. Startup is a podcast about what it's really like to get a business off the ground. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts.

SPONSOR

The Detroit Digital Summit is September 11-13, 2017. It's filled with speakers, workshops and sessions on the latest trends, tactics and insights—where ideas and inspiration are formed. You don't want to miss this one.Use checkout code BT50 to receive $50 off of your ticket.

Regulatory / Security

Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.

SECURITY / HACKING:

As you're moved to make donations to Hurricane Harvey victims, please note that there are scam organizations out there trying to take advantage. This should help you navigate the space. Sad that we have to be aware of this kind of behavior, but the good news is there are reputable places to donate to as well.

A global vulnerability in hotel keycard locks was a security disaster and an opportunity of a lifetime for The Hotel Room Hacker.

Measurement / Analytics / Data

The future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.

When you want to know more about your customers or users, it's always a fine line between seeming too intrusive and not unearthing enough. Here's how to collect data without being creepy from MediaShift.

Mental Nourishment

Other links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.

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Brain+Trust Partners helps smart, risk-taking executives discern the real from the hype. From strategy development to technology and data vendor selection, to digital transformation and streamlining processes, our focus is on the customer experience. And our decades of experience working for major brands means that we deeply understand the challenges you're facing. Let us know if we can help you.